The Psychology of Game Design: What Makes Players Stay?

Statistics show video & casino games are quite addictive among users. Click here to read the psychology that makes them addictive, considering the hook model.

Thousands of games are released annually, yet, not all succeed. In fact, it is estimated that only 10% of games that are released remain to be popular among players.

In case you are wondering why these games remain popular, it all comes down to the design of the game. Platforms such as 7slots have mastered the psychology of players and exploit it to their advantage. Continue reading this article to discover how some of these psychological tricks are used to make the player hooked to a game.

The Hook Model

In gaming psychology, one of the frameworks that has been developed to keep players engaged is the Hook Model which is founded on the following stages of getting hooked to a video game:

• Trigger
• Action
• Rewards
• Investment

The Hook Model, developed by Nir Eyal, explains that each of these steps is crucial to the player in that the impulse that is triggered by the game, for example, an opportunity to pass time or an opportunity to make money, then triggers an action to satisfy the impulse. As the player shifts to the third stage of targeting the reward, a psychological connection and financial commitment have already been established, leading to the final stage of investing money, time, and effort into gaming while looping back to the first step of a triggered impulse.

In case a player makes losses along the four stages, there is still a feeling of unachieved goals, which pressures the gamer to proceed with the game with the hopes of realizing the pre-established goals in the first two stages of this gaming psychological model.

Self Determination Theory

The self-determination theory emphasizes the fundamental needs of human beings, which are autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

Autonomy

Every human being has an inherent desire for freedom and to feel in control of circumstances, surroundings, environments, and emerging challenges. When playing games such as Blackjack and other card games, players feel that they are in control of their cards, moves, and decisions. In others like GTA, players may choose the most convenient routes and vehicles when moving from one mission to another.

Competence

In terms of SDT and gaming psychology, this can be best understood by the desire of every player to complete a task or a challenge. Every game has an underlying attribute that it measures, such as patience, resilience, critical thinking, arithmetic, geography, and other basic human skills. As a player completes a quest, so does their confidence in the competence levels of the trait being tested by the game. For example, a person may feel, for example, that they have become more adaptive, have better time-management skills, or have become more resilient or efficient in terms of handling resources such as ammo or hints.

Relatedness

Every human’s desire is to be part of a community and as an inherent human need and desire, the gaming world provides the opportunity for gamers to interact, engage, and brainstorm. These communities make gamers keep going back for the support systems, challenges, or competitiveness that are within these online platforms.

The Interplay

As gamers pursue these fundamental human needs, game designers incorporate aspects of reward and gratification, which make the players want to play more, hence remaining hooked to the video games. As a player seeks a reward, the SDT aspects of autonomy, competence, and relatedness make them stay longer with the aim of acquiring a reward and getting the underlying self-actualization that controls human decisions.